Data is new blood but don't let it be a disease

Indian Telecom Industry has seen a drastic change in last three years. Data has become the main source of income for telecom Industry. Voice services are almost free with the monthly data .But as a common man what has changed in your life. Is it a natural change or a change brought with some motives , it is a big question. To understand this you need to look back and analyse how things has changed in past years.

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In the year 2007 Google launched its open source operating system android and in  2008 first android mobile was launched when Nokia was dominating Indian market with its Symbian operating system .Slowly smartphones came into market and android became the primary OS in most of the smartphones.With the increasing android users Google started Google play store in competition to iPhone App store. Google started collecting user information from android database. New versions of android updated which required high memory space in mobile .Thus user were compelled to buy new devices.

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TRAP OF MARKETING AND ADVERTISING COMPANIES

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Although people are too busy in social media entertainment platform like Facebook, Instagram, whats app ,LinkedIn,Tik-Tok  and Youtube. Very few are cautious about monitoring of user online activities and interests by these platforms. Marketing companies including google ,Facebook keeps track of viewing history of user and displays videos ,ads related to user interest . User after viewing ads of their interest may become a customer for companies giving ads. These companies are earning huge amount of money from the advertisers . People being addicted to these social media platform waste a lot of precious time ,and  money to pay for data charges and mobile devices.
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While in India new records are being made for data usage by Indians .Everybody giving credits to RJIO for low data tariff war, which has enabled Indian users to access unlimited data and unlimited voice at throwaway prices. Although it is true that per GB data is very cheap now as compared to per GB data before 2016 , it is worth to note that telecom operators revenue from voice services has reduced considerably. To increase ARPU operators has to migrate users to data plans with unlimited calling .While monthly data charges are ranging from 149 to 190 Rs. still ARPU of most of the telecom operators is below Rs 100 except RJIO which is having mainly data user base.

ADVERSE EFFECTS ON SOCIETY

 Unlimited data has compelled users to spend more time on their mobiles thus reducing physical communication among family members and friends . This in turn has affected very badly the emotional bonding in the society. A new trend of living virtual life on social media has evolved, causing dissatisfaction in personal life  as people has started to compare their life with the virtual life which is being displayed on social media.

Increased Cyber crime

Easy access to data and online banking and transactions has caused surge in cyber crimes. Cyber criminals easily access details of their targets on social media and use details to cause online frauds, blackmailing and other criminal activities.As per the reports incidents of cyber crimes has increased in India. “As per the information  tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total number of 44,679, 49,455, 50,362 and 53,081 cyber security incidents were recorded during the year 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively. Which clearly indicates easy access of data in India is one of the reasons why cyber crimes has increased. This figure may increase rapidly in future as still data user base in India is below 50%.

Peer pressure and addiction to technology

young generations specially school going students are feeling great peer pressure due high end mobile devices and frequent change of technology. Students belonging to rich families display their costly mobile devices and its features  to their classmates , due to this other students demands same from their parents .Thus financial burden on parents has increased and they are more worried about the study of their children. Various instances has been reported in recent past where students taken extreme step of committing suicide when their parents failed to fulfill demand for costly smartphones.

Changing Technology ,Automation and Threat to Employment

With rising data usage telecom operators and Internet service provider has to upgrade their network and technology rapidly ,thus requiring huge investment .With the rising competition the only way to cut cost , these companies are reducing employees. Companies looking towards automation in coming days there may be severe shortage of employment. Which is really a serious concern for a large country with huge population like India.

While many experts argue that with the advancement of technology new opportunities will be their for future generations but when India is suffering to fulfill the current need of skilled people.How next generation will get the opportunities. It is really difficult for a country like India where still more than 50% population lives in villages with no proper employment, education and healthcare. There is no clear road map of the Government how it is going to meet the rising needs of employment with the growing population and automation.

After the launch of RJIO Indian telecom market destabilized causing closure of many small operators and now government is planning VRS of 30 % of employees from BSNL. All this happened in just a short span of time from 2016-17 to 2018-19. Now focus of all operators is on 5G , which will further boost automation in many fields . Future will decide if technology will bring prosperity or hardship for India.

BSNL high speed FTTH Bharat Fiber(Internet) launched to take on JIO Giga Fiber

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited ,state owned Government company lanched its high speed Fiber to Home services on 19-1-2019 with daily high speed data limits of 35 GB .

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Bharat fiber offers data with price as low as 1.1 Rs per GB. RJIO is working aggresively in its JIO Giga fiber service. After disruption in telecom services next target of RJIO is fiber broadband and Enterprise business. Till date these services are offered in selected cities by RJIO but soon ,this service will be launched in 1400 cities across India. 

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To take a lead BSNL introduced High Speed FTTH services in the cities where FTTH service is vailable. BSNl offers FTTH service in nearly 100 cities across India .You can check if BSNL FTTH service is available in your city on BSNL website or click here .

BSNL is Torch Bearer of Digital India

BSNL is taking Digital India initiative forward by active participation in NOFN and Bhratnet project connecting 250000 Gram Panchayats of India.

These fiber connection provide at Gram panchayat will be look after by BSNL afer completion of Bharatnet project.

Other Services by BSNL

BSNL offers 2G , 3G and broadband services

across the nation. BSNL  started 4G service

in few places recently.BSNL also offers wi-fi hot-spot service in rual areas. BSNL also offering internet telephony by WINGS app at very affordable prices. WINGS is VOIP service which can be used for voice and video calling using Internet 

Mobile number portability history, procedure and new guidelines

Mobile number portability is the facility of changing of your telecom service provider without changing your number .There are two types of Number portability .

1. Recipient Led Porting

 As per  International and European standard is f customer wishing to port his/her number need to contact  new network (recipient), which then sends the number portability request (NPR) to the current network (donor). This is known as "recipient-led" porting.

2. Donor Led Porting

The UK and India are the only exceptions to implement the donor-led porting system. The customer wishing to port his/her number is required to contact the donor to obtain (PAC) in the UK and Unique porting code(UPC) in India)which is then given to the recipient network. The recipient continues the porting process by contacting the donor with a porting code. This form of porting is known as "donor-led" porting system.

new MNP Guidelines

Drawback of Donor Led Porting System

Although this system  prevents MNP scams. It has  been observed that it may act as customer deterrent as well as allowing the donor an opportunity of "winning back" the customer. This might lead to distortion of competition.

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History of Porting in India 

Based on the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on MNP, dated 8 March 2006, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) issued guidelines for Mobile Number Portability implementation in the country on 1st Aug 2008. Subsequently, the DoT selected two companies as MNP Service providers each serving in a designated zone in the country. As per the instructions of DoT dated 6 May 2009, a Port Transaction Charge will be charged by the MNP Service Provider from the recipient carrier for processing each porting request. The Dipping charge shall be payable by those telecom service providers who utilize the query response services from the MNP Service Provider. The Porting Charge is payable by the subscriber to the recipient carrier for porting his mobile number. The port transaction charge, dipping charges and the porting charge shall be governed by the Telecom Tariff Order (TTO)/ determination by TRAI.

Technical details

A significant technical aspect of MNP is related to the routing of calls or messages to a number once it has been ported. There are various types of call routing implemented  across the globe but the International and European best practice is via the use of a central database (CDB) of ported numbers.

 A network operator makes copies of the central database and queries it to find out to which network to send a call. This is also known as All Call Query (ACQ) and is highly efficient and scalable. A majority of the established and upcoming MNP systems across the world are based on this ACQ/CDB method of call routing.

One of the few countries not to use ACQ/CDB is the UK, where once a number has been ported, calls to that number are still routed via the donor network. This is also known as "indirect routing" and is highly inefficient, as it is wasteful of transmission and switching capacity.

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Porting Time

Prior to March 2008 it took a minimum of 5 working days to port a number in the UK compared to 3.5 working days in Pakistan, 2 hours in United States, as low as 20 minutes in the Republic of Ireland, 3 minutes in Australia and even a matter of seconds in New Zealand. 

On 17 July 2007, Ofcom(Telecom Regulatory Authority of UK) released its conclusions from the review of the UK MNP and mandated reduction of porting time to 2 working days effective from 1 April 2008.

on 8 July 2010, Ofcom issued a final statement, retaining the donor-led process, mandating a two-hour PAC release time, and reducing the porting time from two to one working day.

In a decentralised model of MNP, a flexible number register may be used to manage a database of ported out/ported in numbers for call routing.

In India time required for Mobile number portability was 7 days earlier  which was further reduced to 2 days for Home LSA(Within State) and 4 days for inter LSA(one state to other state ) in India as per TRAI’s 7^th Amendment to Mobile number portability  Rules,  Dated 13.12.2018, effective from 1 Jan 2019

Porting can be done only after completion of 90 days in one network . Port request can be cancelled within 24 hours of application.

Mobile Number Portability(MNP) Procedure in India

For MNP you need  to write in message box "PORT space MOB NO" and send SMS to 1900 , a unique porting code(UPC) will be send to your mobile by your current operator ,this UPC will be valid for  4 days.

After that you need to visit retailer shop or service center of receiver operator(Telecom operator on which you are porting) and need to give this UPC code along with desired documents and Photograph, to fill the form for porting. New SIM will be provided by retailer or service center. Your request of porting will be send by Receiver operator to Donor operator, once request is accepted by donor operator your old SIM will stop working. Then you need to insert new SIM in your mobile ,now your number is ported in new network.

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Porting Charge to Customer

There is no charge of porting your number but activation recharge is required by new telecom operator to give validity and balance.

After the amendment in MNP policy , recently AIRTEL and IDEA-VODAFONE made compulsory for customers to recharge for min. 35 Rs in a month to continue services. Since this change huge surge is observed in Mobile Number portability from these two operators to RJIO and BSNL. 

When 5G wireless network will be released in India

When 5G wireless network will be released in India

Although news on 5G  network trials worldwide is common these days. Present Government in India has pledged that India will not lag behind in launching 5G services and expected to start in 2020. But honestly common man may not soon get real 5G network .The reasons for it are obvious looking at history and pace of technological change  in India.

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Fierce competition in Telecom Sector and Huge Debt

It is to be noted that telecom services in India are cheapest in the world leaving very less margin for the operators to earn. Telecom operators are already under debt burden of more than 7 lakh crores.
While 5G network infrastructure needs huge investment ,how operators will repay their existing debt  in such market conditions is a big question.

Small Coverage area of 5G

5G wireless technology uses high frequencies in the 20-50 Ghz band thus coverage of such BTS will be one tenth of present 3G or 4G towers working in 2100 Mhz and 1/20th to 2G and 4G working in 800 and 900 Mhz band. To ensure proper coverage operators will be required further investment in the construction of tower ,along with upgrading existing mobile towers.

Costly 5G Devices

4G was first launched in 2012 by AIRTEL. It took 4-5 years till  late 2016 when common man experienced 4G services with cheap devices provided by RJIO. Still services offered by telecom operators in the name of 4G are not upto the 4G standars.While 4G  boast of 100-300 Mbps speeds , max speed experienced by users is below 25 Mbps. To give 5G services operators has to launch chep 5G devices bundled with monthly plans to make this technology accessible to common man .

Limitation of OFC media in cities

Although most of the telecom operators are having there ofc media for providing data bandwidth to mobile towers, still number of such towers are working on microwave links these towers needs to be connected with the optical fiber to provide bandwidth of 1 Gbps or more . While it seems quite easy but not the reality.

In cities which are already developed giving fiber to every tower require laying of fiber ,crossing of roads .In cities already Gutter line, pipelines , Electricity line are laid underground.Laying of fibers to every society or colony may cause damage to damage to these services . While cable operators uses electricity poles ,trees and rooftops without permission for overhead lines it can't be telecom operators. 

Scrapping of Old tower Equipments

While implementing new technology operators have extra burden of handling old equipments till all the customer migrate to new technology.

While GSM technology has lasted nearly 18 years  and will be in use for few more years ,3G is going to be scrapped as its spectrum is being used by old operators to provide 4G services . All operators are facing shortage of 4G spectrum , scrapping 3G is only solution to avoid further investment in Spectrum purchase. Customers using 3G needs to be migrated in 4G or customers are required to replace their devices.

Deficit of Rural infrastructure

While operators are planning for 5G services their main focus is on big cities from where they can generate sufficient revenue. While rural area is concern there is no sufficient infra and revenue generation where any opearator can bet on investment. While government is subsidising wi-Fi hotspot in rural areas this is limited to rural exchanges of BSNL with coverage of mere 100 meters and bandwidh of 2Mbps. Thus providing 5G services without interruption across the nation is day's dream.

What can be done by Government 

While it is a matter of debate that what Govenment can do to ensure that customers could not be cheated in the name 5G few suggestions are:

1. In cities state government should be involved  and common duct can be made by R&B across the roads and along the roads which can be utilised by all the operators for laying of fibers, for that operators could be charged.This will reduce the expenditure of operators. Alongwith 5G network require tower situated like streetlights situated in the divider , which is not possible without government's support.

2. Operators should be allotted spectrum in affordable price so that they could invest more in infrastructure to provide seamless services.

3. Services in rural areas to be subsidised  or hotspot with coverage of minimum 1 km should be installed with sufficient bandwidth.A sit is not possible to invest heavily in rural areas without revenue generation.

Although all the operators including Government owned BSNL are working with tehnological giants like, Nokia, Erricson,  etc to create environment for 5G services , Indian people may see mere upgrade of 4G or 4G+ in the name of 5G network without proper support from Government of India.  It is said that 5G wireless network will provide data speeds in 1-100 Gbps, while in India 4G could not touch 100 Mbps even after 2 years of service launch . Meanwhile AIRTEL have tested 500 Mbps speed during testing LAA technology recently but it yet to be implemented nationwide.

new MNP regulation 2018 by TRAI

TRAI’s 7^th Amendment to Mobile number portability  Rules

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)has issued Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Seventh Amendment) Regulations, 2018 on 13.12.2018  .

To reduce  the rejections on the grounds of "Unique Porting Code (UPC) Mismatch" and "Unique Porting Code (UPC) expired", the Authority initiated draft Telecommunications Mobile Number Portability (seventh amendment), Regulations 2017, on 16th August, 2017 for seeking comments of the stakeholders. The comments received from the stakeholders were examined and analyzed. Final Amendment Highlights are:-

Porting timeline of 2 working days has been provisioned for the requests of Intra-Licensed Service Area (Intra-LSA) numbers except the requests made under corporate category and the timelines of 4 working days has been provisioned for all the porting requests of Inter-Licensed Service Area (Inter-LSA) numbers and corporate category. Porting can be done only after 90 days of last porting.

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Besides above, other major changes have been incorporated such as the validity of UPC has been kept 4 days in place of 15 days earlier for all LSAs except for the LSAs of Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East for which the validity of UPC remains unchanged. Process for withdrawal of porting requests has been made simpler and quicker through SMS. For the cases of corporate porting, present limit of 50 numbers in single authorization letter has been enhanced to 100 numbers per authorization letter. Provisions for the Financial Disincentives have been broadened upon contravention of the provisions of MNP Regulations. Post implementation of this regulation (amendment), appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) parameters will be devised by the Authority to monitor the role of MNP SPs(Servi and Access Providers in the new scenario.

What is the Benefit to the customer?

It was observed earlier that It takes 10-15 days earlier for porting number from one operator to other operator, it was really frustrating for the customer If he is not getting proper service with existing service provider, many a times operators rejects MNP requests on various grounds like contractual obligation. Now as per amendment if a service provider rejects MNP port out request with violation of guidelines given by TRAI in its 7^th Amendment to Mobile number portability operator will be fined maximum upto 10 thousand per rejection.

What is the effect on service providers?

Due to compulsory minimum recharge by telecom operators Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea ,customers from these operators are porting out to BSNL and RJIO .With the reduction in MNP time from 15 days to 2 days in Home-LSA and 4 days in Inter-LSA port out  may increase abruptly for these two operators.

Why Minimum Monthly recharge to Continu Your Mobile services?

Telecom market in India is changing very rapidly , till few days ago nobody was worried about validity of his number except customer of BSNL , a public sector Enterprise. You buy a SIM and get lifetime validity , this is the way these telecom operators added such a huge number of Mobile customers .With the invent of dual SIM mobile phone most of the Indians were having two or more numbers, one for regular use and one for occasional use. With the entry of RJIO situation changed further, many  people used regular number  as an incoming number and RJIO for outgoing and DATA use.

Telecom Regulatory authority of India ,TDSAT ,DOT and Telecom Disputes in India

Problem of Mobile operators(AIRTEL,VODAFONE, IDEA)

Before the entry of RJIO ,ARPU from customers was quite high nearly 200 Rs. as the data charges and call charges were high and interconnect charges were 14 paisa . Telecom operators were earning considerable amount from the customers who were using number for Just incoming only. But now scenario has completely changed. Unlimited calling plans have been launched due to the competition by RJIO at quite a low cost(Rs. 99 /28 days) , thus revenue for high calling users have already dropped and interconnect charges what operators get for an incoming call from other network has fallen to 6 paisa. The average revenue from customer using number only for incoming is  Rs 10 for six months and ARPU is falling by 4.7% quarterly. One  side expenditure of operators increasing due to investment in upgradation of network on the other hand revenue is declining.

  ARPU of Vodafone-idea has fallen to Rs. 88 while it is 101 for AIRTEL. RJIO is having highest ARPU of Rs.131.7 .

Steps taken by Operators to increase Revenue

 As the ARPU o the operators is falling 4.47% per quarter because of greater number of people using old number as incoming only, thus per user revenue from such customers is merely RS. 10 for six months by increasing revenue from these users operators trying to hold the decline of their revenue.

So AIRTEL ,IDEA and VODAFONE made, minimum recharge of Rs. 35 compulsory after every 28 days for every customer. In recharge of  Rs. 35 customers will get talk value of Rs. 26 for 28 days . Other than Rs. 35 , available recharge are Rs. 65 and Rs. 95 all offering validity for 28 days.

If customers fails to recharge  his after completion of his 30 days his outgoing calls will be stopped and in if no recharge done in next 15 days incoming facility of the customer will also be stopped .

Thus average revenue from such customers will be at least Rs. 35 per month for the operators .Total count of such customer’s is nearly 60 million, those  customers who failed to recharge their number will be closed permanently

Options Available for Customers

The only option available for the customers who do not want to spend minimum of Rs 35 for incoming services may port out there existing number to BSNL .BSNL offers six months validity on recharge of Rs. 36 with no balance,while recharge of Rs . 153 provides validity of one year and talk value of Rs. 100 & free PRBT for 28 days.

Telecom Regulatory authority of India ,TDSAT ,DOT and Telecom Disputes in India

History of TRAI

When Indian Telecom market was opened for Private companies  need arised of a regulatory authority to monitor fair play by all telecom operators and protection of consumer rights. With this idea TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) was formed on 20 Feb, 1997 by Act of Parliament , called as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India , 1997.

The directions, orders and regulations issued cover a wide range of subjects including tariff, interconnection and quality of service as well as governance of the Authority.

India, The Fastest growing telecom market and Challenges

TDSAT

The TRAI Act was amended by an ordinance, effective from 24 January 2000, establishing a Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI. TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licencor and a licensee, between two or more service providers, between a service provider and a group of consumers, and to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of TRAI.

  After formation of TDSAT , TRAI has powers of  a policy making and imposing penalty on policy violation .If any of the policy made by TRAI seems biased operators can go to TDSAT against decision of TRAI . 

DOT

Department of Telecommunications has a different role compared to TRAI and TDSAT . Main work of DOT is to issue licenses to the operators, selling of spectrum(frequency) for telecommunication and management in the field of radio communication in co-ordination with international bodies .

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(Government PSU in Telecom)

Controversies with TRAI

Although TRAI is a regulatory authority to give all operators fair play in telecom sector , but with the entry of RJIO few policy decisions of TRAI has been controversial and strongly opposed by other operators but couldn't get any relaxation.Few decision of TRAI caused controversy ,like-

1) Reduction in InterconnectChareges

From Oct 1, 2017 TRAI reduced interconnect charges from 14 paisa to 6 paisa. Interconnect charge is the charge what an operator need to pay to other operator for any call from its own  network which goes in others network. RJIO being a new entrant and unlimited free calls from its network was the biggest gainer of this decision. While old operators like AIRTEL,VODFONE, IDEA with major customer base were the sufferer due to sudden decline of revenue from interconnect charges.

2) Predatory Pricing

As per TRAI decision ,"A tariff will be considered predatory if in a “relevant market”, a telecom operator with over 30% market share offers services at a price which is below the average “variable cost”, with a view to reduce competition or eliminate the competitors in the “relevant market”.

This definition allows RJIO to offer low cost services while other players could not reduce their charges below certain level . AIRTEL and IDEA appealed against this decision of TRAI in TDSAT but couldn't get stay.

3 ) Free services by JIO

With the launch of RJIO on 5th September 2016 it offered free services for three months for its customers as "Welcome offer" then extended on December 1,  further till 31 March, 2017 as (Happy New year offer). AIRTEL, IDEA and VODAFONE appealed against extension of free services by  RJIO in TDSAT . But on 1 February,2017 , TDSAT ruled that Reliance Jio’s “welcome” and “happy new year” offers were non-discriminatory and non-predatory.

India , The fastest Growing Telecom Market and Challenges

India is still a developing country . Telecom sector in India grown slowly  till 2016 in terms of technology . Most of the telecom players were providing only GSM and 3G connectivity to its customers. Most of the operator were charging high while customers were not having too options in terms of pricing and service . But since the Launch 4G services by Reliance Jio nationwide ,India has seen rapid growth in terms of Data speeds .

HOW IT HAPPENED?

Indian telecom market was opened for Private companies in 1998 but government arm DOT was the leading player providing wired line telecom service , which was opposed by private companies as will not give them fair chance  to compete in the market. In 1999 Indian Government decided to leave direct control of telecom services provided by DOT so new PSU was formed from DOT to provide telecom services . BSNL was only providing wired Line services while private companies tarted Mobile services but these service cost were too high . BSNL launched its mobile services in 2005  due to different initiative taken by BSNL like free incoming services , brought telecom services in reach of common man . After that with decreasing prices of mobile devices caused rapid growth in penetration of Telecom services. In 2010 , BSNL launched 3G service nationwide , slowly all operators started 3G services but still Data was not highly used by Indian customers due to high cost. Telecom operators need to take huge loans for paying 3G spectrum charges.

AUCTION OF 4G SPECTRUM

In 2016 auction of 4G spectrum took place . Government laid one condition ,  A company interested in buying spectrum in 700 MHz band will need to shell out a minimum of Rs.57,425 crore for a block of 5 MHz on a pan-India basis. This premium band alone has the potential to fetch bids worth over Rs.4 trillion.

 Existing operators were already burdened with heavy loans could not invest such a huge amount so they bought spectrum in 1800 and 2100 MHz band in selected circles. Thus RJIO became the only operator to posses nationwide 4G spectrum , this in turn gave RJIO an edge over other operators . 

RISE OF RJIO AND DATA REVOLUTION IN INDIA

As Reliance JIO was a new entrant in Telecom market and already have invested heavily in making robust 4G network in India , the main focus was to get large customer base. . Altough Airtel launched 4G mobile services in Feb 2014 in selected cities of India , first nationwide launch was done by RJIO in April 2016 and just to attract customers provided free 4G services for six months. Due to free service there was a rush to get RJIO SIM in India, people got their 4G SIM waiting in ques for hours . First time Indian customers experienced high Data speed of 4G .

 Although RJIO garnered good customer base ,with its free services but it was a setback for existing telecom operators as their revenue started dipping sharply, free service by RJIO was extended further by six months thus giving another blow to existing operators . As RJIO network was facing several issues in call setup and voice clarity , free services helped RJIO to retain all customers . Due to free services offered by RJIO data usage in India touched record high , and youngsters got addicted to various data service .RJIO range of services on its 4G network, JIO TV, JIO music, JIO money etc. After one year RJIO started charging for its services. In one year all telecom operators were under financial stress and forced to strengthen their network ,reduce voice and data charges.

RJIO added record 20 million customers in 3 years, while it took 10 to 15 years to other operators add that much customers.

DRAWBACK OF FIERCE COMPETITION

Due to free services offered by RJIO revenue of all telecom operators, AIRTEL, VODAFONE, Reliance, Tata DOCOMO, UNINOR, AIRCEL, BSNL, MTNL fell drastically. Operators were not able to pay installments for their loans . Under severe financial stress many operators shut their business. AIRCEL, TATA DOCOMO, UNINOR, Reliance ore the operators closing their business . Infrastructure of Reliance owned by Anil Ambani bought by his elder brother Mukesh Ambani . Business of AIRCEL & TATA DOCOMO purchased by AIRTEL.  Due to closure of business by telecom operators huge number of people get unemployed working withn these companies directly or indirectly. Although customer is a winner of this cut throught competition but even Government is facing loss of revenue as operators are not able to pay spectrum related charge timely.

Since 2018 ARPU of operators has fallen from approx Rs. 180 to below Rs. 100. Even government owned PSU's, BSNL and MTNL are under severe financial stress .These two PSU's are still waiting for their 4G spectrum as  Government has not allotted them spectrum. Due to  lack of 4G spectrum their customer base and revenue is not increasing. 

Only 5 national telecom operators are left in India which will  further reduce to 4 from December 2018 due to merger of Vodafone and Idea. Due to merger of Vodafone and Idea , nearly 60,000 people working with these companies will loose their Jobs .

Total cumulative debt on Telecom operators has reached whopping 7.7 Lakh crore rupees . Although operators like AIRCEL, Reliance, TATA etc. closed their telecom business ,still struggling to pay their pending dues .

DATA REVOLUTION IN INDIA

Since 2014 government of India is working towards Digital India Initiative Although 4G has helped for inclusion of Indian citizens in Digital India initiative, Rural India still lack reach of High speed Data. To fill this gap Government of India launched an Initiative of NOFN(National optical fiber network) to connect 2,50,000 village Gram Panchayats with optical fiber. BBNL, BSNL are playing crucial role to implement this project, this project is yet not completed .Still total data consumption has already crossed 2360 petabytes , with average consumption per user in 4G ,reaching 30 GB/month  per user in till September 2018, with year on year increase of 144 %.

5G in India

Facing huge competition in 4G all telecom operators are working towards further upgrade of their network . AIRTEL, VODAFONE , JIO all three major operators has given indication of early launch of 5G if spectrum is allotted. Government PSU , BSNL although could not get 4G spectrum but working towards launch of 5G with all other operators and have already done MOU with NOKIA and ZTE for necessary network planning . 

,

  Government of India has to work towards easing financial stress on telecom operators so that they can repay their debts and spectrum charges . If financial condition of the operators further deteriorates , it will further increase unemployment as well as affect further network upgrade of the operators.

BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED(B.S.N.L)

HISTORY OF BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD.(BSNL)

BSNL came into existence on 1 October 2000. Earlier all telecom services mainly Landline service were being provided by Government through Department of Telecommunication(DOT), but to promote private players to bring new technologies in telecommunications ,and give them a fair chance of doing business Government left direct involvement in Telecom sector and formed Public Sector Unit named BSNL and MTNL(For Delhi and Mumbai) .

Contribution of BSNL in Telecommunication

When BSNL was formed it was only working in Landline while new telecom players started mobile services. BSNL started mobile services in 2005 . BSNL took internet to even to far villages and remote areas where private companies were not providing services. BSNL launched 3G services in 2010  nationwide. Execution of all government schemes like VPT(Village punchyat telephone) or Village PCO to Broadband KIOSK . BSNL laid optical fiber upto to every Telephone exchange . 

Financial Status of BSNL

BSNL was continuously in profit upto financial year 2008-2009. BSNL reported loss first time in year 2009-10  of Rs 1800 crore .Thereafter its financial conditions deteriorated continuously .In the auction of 3G spectrum BSNl was not allowed to participate but BSNL was forced pay spectrum charges at Maximum auctioned rate in all Circles India .BSNl paid 18500.38 crore Rs as spectrum charges. While private operators auctioned spectrum as per their requirement. All policy decisions of BSNL , regarding purchase of new technology ,new projects are taken by DOT and cabinet itself. So delay in implementation of new technology and projects, large number of unskilled staff and poor support from Government led to financial crisis in BSNL . Since 2015 BSNL showed the sign of revival and booked operation profits but with the entry of Reliance JIO and agressive marketting and freebies telecom market shattered . Revenu of all telecom operators fell drastically .Several small telecom players not able repay their loans shut their business. Reliance, AIRCEL, Tata tleservices, shut their telecom business. Vodafone and IDEA merged their business to sustain in the market. 

Even BSNL revenue has dropped drastically  although its market share increased in this period.

FUTURE OF BSNL

Future of BSNL depends fully on the intention of Government , its stand on BSNL revival policy. As technology is changed very rapidly , BSNL was never allowed to upgrade its network timely thus always lagging to private companies. BSNL is very keen launch 4G as already all existing operators providing 4G services , Government has not taken its decision since 2017 and just delaying 4G spectrum to BSNL . While BSNL wants to become first operator to launch  5G in India , government  is not willing to provide 4G spectrum ,  how it will launch 5G it is a matter of concern. 

   BSNL launched 3G in 2010 but could not provide it nationwide till 2018 due to dependence on DOT and Government for every policy decision.

Career in BSNL

BSNL recruits Engineering graduates/Diploma engineers for technical posts and Account graduates MCom, CA, etc in Finance stream .BSNL is the largest recruiter of Engineering graduates nearly 2500-3000 JTO are recruited in every notification, . BSNL conducts Special Recruitment drive for SC/ST and Physically handicapped (PH) candidates 

Their exists only two technical post for recruitment takes place:

1. Junior Engineer- 

Diploma Engineer/ Engineering graduates can apply(ECE, IT, Electrical, Electronics, communication etc branches included). It a group C post .

2. Junior Telecom officer

Engineering Graduates(BE/Btech/ MSc electronics) in ECE/Electrical/IT/Electronics etc. branches

    For JTO(Electrical) and JTO(civil)  different exam is conducted for candidates with degree in Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering .It isa group B post

Selection procedure in BSNL

  Earlier BSNL used to conduct written examination for post JTO , but now recruitment is done on the basis of score in the GATE examination. Candidates are shortlisted on the basis of their  GATE  score and selected candidates are called for document verification . After document verification candidates are called for training.

   

Fot the post of Junior Engineer online exam is conducted at selected centers with three sections one section is General studies  other are technical( Exam format is provided in notification). For qualifying exam one has to qualify in all three sections .

Pay Scales in BSNL

Grade NE(9)(JE)	Existing Pay Scale 13600-25420
E1(JTO)	16,400 - 40,500
E2(SDE)	20,600 - 46,500
E3(Sr.SDE)	24,900 - 50,500
E4(DE)	29,100 - 54,500
E5(DGM)	32,900 - 58,000
E6(GM)	36,600 - 62,000
E7(Sr. GM)	43,200 - 66,000
E8(PGM)	51,300 - 73,000
E9(CGM & Director)	62,000 - 80,000

                Pay scale of for JTO is finalized at 16400 as per modification JTO RR rules in 2014 . JTO of batches 2007 and 2008 posted up to 2010 were recruited in 9850 (E 1A) of 2 nd PRC but were fixed in 16400 after degrading there scale from corresponding scale in 2nd PRC . After case in CAT delhi , additional 5 increments were provided to these two batches tentatively . All further JTO/JAO recruitment's were done at the scale of 16400 due to modifications in recruitment rule.

Services provided by BSNL

BSNL provide range of telecom services .Main sevice are Landline, Broadband, Mobile services(2G & 3G), Leased line, MLLN ,VPN, Wi-Fi, wireless Broadband, VOIP services(wings), NGN services etc.